Sunday, April 27, 2014

ArmA 3 - Those Support Guys

I am prepping a new ArmA 3 scenario showcasing an attack on an enemy strong point. I ended up needing a lot of fire support for this mission and I thought that it would be a great idea to have the player lead a HMG team.

A HMG team in ArmA 3.

ArmA has always been and likely will continue to be clunky. But one can't complain about its versatility. In this blog entry, a brief showcase on how to deploy the HMG.

I am part of a HMG team (gunner and assistant gunner). We carry our HMG in our backs. One team member carries the tripod, the other one carries the HMG. This is my virtual character and I decided to attack by fire those enemy barracks in the far background.

Once I settled for our HMG position, I drop my backpack to the floor. That is done by pressing the "I" (inventory) key. Don't confuse it with the previous ArmA versions' "G" (gear) key. "G" is for throwing a grenade in ArmA 3. Careful!

Then drag and drop the backpack icon from the inventory window (right) into the ground window (left).

The backpack containing the tripod is now on the floor. I pull back and I ask my team member to "assemble Static MG" ( [F2] [6] [1] ).

The interface to have the team mate to deploy the HMG.

The other team member walks to the backpack containing the tipod and assembles the HMG at that position. The whole thing took just a few seconds. It is important to be careful with the orientation of the other guy relative to the point where you drop the tripod because the MG will be deployed in the direction from which the team member arrives towards the backpack.

The target area as seen from the HMG targeting system. Plenty of casualties-to-be there.

The thermal targeting system can pick up the signature of the human body from ranges up to a kilometer.

At a range of 378 meters, these guys on the other end never got a chance. The range and rate of fire of the HMG is just fantastic.

They are now firing back at us, from the hills in the background. Although it was pretty dangerous for a few seconds, all targets were neutralized shortly thereafter.

A mortar team uses the same deployment mechanics shown above: deploy tripod then deploy mortar tube.

And off course with this being an indirect fire support weapon, it has its pros and cons, like lower precision and the ability to engage enemy defiles.

I rarely see coop gameplay featuring these support weapons which bring so much firepower into the fray. True, it takes a team to carry these vital support assets onto the battlefield. But as the saying says, it takes two to tango.